Canadian dollar vs US

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois

You're probably all over it already, but shop the hell out that transaction.

I'm not sure anything carries more padded margins, hidden fees, and misleading pricing than cross border FX transfers.

The tradeoff for investing with the guy at the bank was them waiving entirely the transfer fee. I'm sure his metrics got a nice boost and we get the waive. Still, will look into exact dollar figures, after transaction. Had not thought that part through to the end - just because the fees are said to be waived doesn't mean they are not hidden elsewhere in the transaction. Thanks!

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

The tradeoff for investing with the guy at the bank was them waiving entirely the transfer fee. I'm sure his metrics got a nice boost and we get the waive. Still, will look into exact dollar figures, after transaction. Had not thought that part through to the end - just because the fees are said to be waived doesn't mean they are not hidden elsewhere in the transaction. Thanks!

Yeah, definitely shop that around. They're waiving the fee, but what is the spread? Calforex is usually good. If you have the cash in advance, the cheapest will be using interactive brokers, as you get the wholesale forex rates. However, they won't let you withdraw in a different currency for a month or so, so it only works if you don't need it right away.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by puckedoff

Run a Norbert gambit instead of paying translation fees.

Exécutez un gambit Norbert au lieu de payer les frais de traduction.

No charge.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Canehdianman

Exécutez un gambit Norbert au lieu de payer les frais de traduction.

No charge.

Merci

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Delgar

Given the amount of money you're likely dealing with, I'd phone someone at a company like CalForex, they'd probably openly provide their projections and their business is mostly US-Canada currency changes on merchant accounts. Also, they'll let you hedge for certainty where they take the risk if you want certainty. Even if they don't tell you their projections, how they propose your hedge will signal their projections.

Two things:

1) their (and everyone else's) projections are worthless - all information is priced in already, and anyone's opinion beyond that is a pointless guess

2) that is not how hedging works. The forward rate is not a prediction of what the rate will be in the future, it is merely a function of the differential in interest rates (i.e. holding costs of being long one currency vs the other).

The best advice in this thread is to simply do regular transactions to average out the rate and eliminate the stress.

That, and shop for the best conversion rates (spoiler alert: not your bank).

[Drummer]

With the Canadian dollar surging it would be funny if they didn't raise the interest rate. If they don't raise the interest rate on whatever day it is, the dollar will probably tank a few cents.

[OMG!WTF!]

So you've got the rate hike today and a fairly big jump in CAD. I suspect there was some hawkish talk that popped it up even more. It looks like it will go to .78 cents to me. However it's also possible the biggest gains have been made and it might make sense to convert now. Another cent up vs a few cents to the downside. If I had to bet I'd say we see a pause for photos then continuing up via the upper channel of its current trend line.

[EldrickOnIce]

Converted today at a bit over 78 cents, a full 5 cents higher than when we signed their offer to purchase. Found money I guess.
The hope of holding off for another half cent not worth the risk of it dropping a couple.
Thanks to all for the advice in this thread. Much appreciated!

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Converted today at a bit over 78 cents, a full 5 cents higher than when we signed their offer to purchase. Found money I guess.
The hope of holding off for another half cent not worth the risk of it dropping a couple.
Thanks to all for the advice in this thread. Much appreciated!

Congratulations! 5 cents on a big purchase like that is worth having indeed.